‘Out of the 1,345 people ever elected to the Dáil, only 131 of them have been women’

Women for Election is a national non-partisan organisation. 

We work with all political parties and none. We’re inclusive of trans women, Traveller women, and other ethnic minority groups We try to bring in women from as many diverse backgrounds as we can. We are underpinned by the UN Declaration of Human Rights, so we tend not to work with people who are homophobic, racist, or anti-human rights – that’s our red line when it comes to working with candidates. We train support, and equip women to run for election. We provide them with real, hands-on skills training around media, packaging, your message, canvassing, posters, leaflets, and all that nitty gritty stuff to do with an election campaign. We also do an awful lot of advocacy work around the barriers that prevent women from running for election. 

Intersectionality plays a huge role in what we do. 

If we’re saying that we need a gender-balanced government so that decision-making tables are representative of the voices within our society, it would be a real shame to exclude the voices of disabled women, Black women, trans women. We do a lot of work with the National Traveller Women’s Forum around getting Traveller women elected. We also work with other ethnic minorities and with LGBT Ireland to try and encourage women from all backgrounds to run. That means approaching women from all corners of the country; rural women, urban women, working-class women. That type of intersectionality is really important because ultimately, electing more women from all backgrounds will lead to better decision-making. 

Regardless of the barriers facing them, women want to run.

We always talk about the 5cs, the five barriers that prevent women from running – cash, candidate selection, culture, child care and confidence. People are now talking about a sixth c which is cyber. This year, we’ve got a record-breaking number of women running. It’s the first-ever general election where we have a 40% quota – 246 women have decided to put their names on the ballot. Women know that their voice is important. I think they realise, especially after Covid, that these policies are directly impacting their lives, and their voices are missing from the table. It’s not hard to convince women to run; it’s harder to convince their families and support circles. We all see the negativity that goes along with politics and their families will say, ‘Are you mad? You’re crazy to do that to yourself.’ Sometimes that can put women off. But the vast majority of women know that this is something they want. They know that this is something Ireland needs, and they know that better representation will improve democracy. 

We’ve never had a situation where there’s been a minimum of two women running in every constituency. 

This year, we’ve seen women from all walks of life decide to run – we have a Traveller woman running in Offaly, there’s a Black woman running in Galway, there are people running for the very first time from communities that would have typically been considered ‘hard to reach communities’. I think democracy is a lot more accessible to people now. There are just so many talented, capable women across the country running this time around. Voters have never had more choice.

The political landscape has changed hugely in the last 10 years. 

Unfortunately, we’ve seen quite a rise in misogyny and sexism online, especially toward women politicians and candidates and that’s definitely something that the political system is going to have to take seriously. When people become emboldened online and they decide to bring those grievances in person, things can get ugly. We don’t want a scenario where we’re talking about this situation after a candidate has been really seriously hurt or, God forbid, murdered like Helen Joanne Cox was in the UK. It’s important to have these conversations about civility and politics and the safety of candidates now. 

Women are significantly more likely than male candidates to experience abuse.

It’s not that male candidates aren’t experiencing harassment or online abuse, but it’s way more targeted at women. That’s something that the political system is going to have to take seriously if we want to get more women elected, because although we have 246 women running – the most we’ve ever had – it’s about actually getting those bums on seats. There’s also the misogyny that women experience when going door to door. Women for Election is working with An Garda Síochána to ensure that there are liaison officers in every constituency so that all candidates have a point of contact to go to. The vast majority of experiences that women are having at the doors are really pleasant. We need to have healthy debate within politics – not everyone is going to agree all the time and that’s fine, we can have that out once it’s respectful.

We have a habit of pigeonholing women into what are typically considered ‘women’s issues’.

Issues like reproductive health and child care are seen as women’s issues – and they definitely are women’s issues – but they’re also everyone’s issues. The situation we have with childcare in this country is everybody’s problem and it should be everybody’s problem, but we know it disproportionately impacts women and their choice to enter into political life. We need governments to take this seriously. Childcare should be an election expense. If you have to get additional childcare because you’re out canvassing, that should qualify as an election expense – for men and women. 

As much as women’s issues are everyone’s issues, every issue is also a woman’s issue.

Take housing, for example, the hot topic this year. We know that there are 4,000 children homeless at the moment, and I can promise you that the vast majority of them are predominantly in the care of a woman. That is going to impact a woman’s decision to run. So when we’re talking about housing, foreign affairs, finance, women’s voices need to be there at the decision-making table. Women are disproportionately going to be affected by things like child poverty, insecure housing or social welfare benefits. If you are advocating at every single step of the way for basic things, you’re going to be way too busy to even consider running for politics, and unfortunately, that means that women are further excluded from political decision-making. 

Everyone was hopeful that America might elect their first woman president. 

People will have their own opinions about what Kamala Harris did and didn’t do well, but I suppose it is about the misogyny that she experienced in political commentary during her campaign. Closer to home, we’ve never had a woman Taoiseach, we’ve never had a woman Minister for Finance in the history of the state. Out of the 1,345 people ever elected to the Dáil, only 131 of them have been women. So when we’re talking about these icons, like what Kamala almost became for the US, we need them here at home as well. Donald Trump’s rhetoric is so misogynistic that it emboldens people here in Ireland to also say the same things that maybe they thought privately, but are now feeling like they have every right to say in public or online. Women for Election’s message is to vote more women, a lot of the time, the immediate reaction to that is, ‘Well, I’m not going to vote for a woman just because, it has to be based on merit’. But when you then pose the question, ‘Well, do you believe that every politician that is currently sitting is there on merit?’, the answer is usually no. Representative democracy isn’t about women being better than men, it’s about having an adequate balance of men and women that will lead to better, more representative decisions. 

We could really move the dial this year if we wanted to. 

We’re encouraging voters to go to votemorewomen.ie, which is a website we’ve created with a really cool interactive map that allows you to click on your constituency and research the women that are running in your area. Consider giving the women candidates in your constituency your vote, because ultimately, the choice is in every voter’s hands. It will be interesting to see if the political parties who ran all of these women this year will take it seriously when they’re creating their government. We’ve called on political parties to commit to 40% women in their cabinet. Getting more women elected is all well and good, but we need them in those positions of power as well. We need balance at every level. 

We can’t wait for the kids who are in school now to be the politicians of the future, we need this change now. 

I was talking to Orla O’Connor, Director of the National Women’s Council, and she said that when they visited a school earlier this week, a six-year-old drew a picture of a politician and it was a man in a suit. It’s that ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t be it’ kind of mentality. Encouragement starts at preschool age, young girls need to be able to see themselves in a political position in the future, but it’s important that we’re not always putting the emphasis on schools because ultimately, it’s about what we’re doing right now. If we continue electing women at the rate that we did in the local government, our local government won’t be balanced for another 40 years. I definitely do not want to wait another 40 years to see gender balance. So I think it is really about putting the emphasis on voter education. If male councillors are knocking on your door looking to be elected this year, we should be asking them if they’re prepared to co-opt a woman onto their seat if they’re elected. Politicians often get their start in local government, so that trickle-up effect will help get more women into our national parliament. If political parties are really serious about gender balance, they will have women-only shortlists when it comes to co-opting women onto their local councils.

It’s crucial that we start to show our support in a real, tangible way. 

Look up your local women’s collective. Women for Election are always looking for people to help other women’s campaigns – you can email hello@womenforelection.ie and we’ll put you in touch with the women candidates in your constituency. We need more bodies on the pavement, dropping leaflets, chatting with people, and advocating for women in your area. By voting for women, you are going to empower them in future – even if your local woman candidate isn’t elected this time around, if she gets a really good showing of first preference votes, that will make political parties take notice. That tangible action of actually voting for women is really, really powerful, and every voter has the chance to do that on November 29.